Steam Logging Demonstrations

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Friday, August 15th, 2014
11:00 AM

A crew of volunteers, led by 83-year old, old-time logger, Jack James, restored the McLeans� steam donkey, raised a 100-foot spar tree and rigged it, complete with a �heel-boom� for loading logs. Now, they put on twice-weekly demonstrations all summer, showing how the old-time loggers �yarded� logs out of the forest and loaded them onto trucks for transport to the sawmill.

Steam donkeys used to be the workhorses of the West Coast forest industry in the first half of the Twentieth Century. While a few rusted machines are on display around Vancouver Island, this is the only fully operational steam donkey left in Canada. Visiting children are often included in the show.